Swedish pension fund Alecta said Wednesday that it had sold the bulk of its US Treasury bonds over the past year, citing the unpredictability of the current administration and growing US debt.
It is the second large Nordic fund to make such a decision public, with Danish fund Akademiker Pension announcing on Tuesday that it was selling all of its US Treasuries.
“Since the beginning of 2025, we have reduced our holdings of US government bonds in several stages, with the reductions accounting for the majority of our holdings,” Pablo Bernengo, chief investment officer at Alecta, told AFP.
The fund held around 100 billion kronor ($11 billion) in U.S. Treasuries at the end of 2024.
It has sold roughly 70–80 billion kronor ($8.8 billion), according to a source close to the matter.
Alecta manages around 1.3 trillion kronor ($143 billion) in assets.
The decision was based on “an assessment that the risk associated with US government bonds and the dollar has increased, which is linked to the reduced predictability of the policies pursued, combined with large budget deficits and growing government debt,” Bernengo said.
On Tuesday, Denmark’s Akademiker Pension fund said it was selling its Treasuries because of “the poor health of US public finances.”
Another Danish pension fund, Padagogernes Pensionskasse (PBU), told Danish broadcaster TV2 that it is also selling US government bonds.
“We want to free ourselves from our dependence on the United States, in case Trump decides to impose sanctions directly targeting the Danish financial sector,” its director, Sune Schackenfeldt, told TV2.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected the notion that Europeans were targeting US debt in retaliation for Washington’s designs on Greenland, calling it a “completely false narrative”.
Responding to a question at a press briefing, Bessent said that such a strategy from Europe could destabilise the market.
“I think everyone needs to take a deep breath. Do not listen to the media who are hysterical,” he said.
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